Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

THINGS TO DO BEFORE WEDDING

1.  Become expert on Greek philosophy.
2.  Memorize Robert Burns poems.
3.  Learn long Scrabble words.
4.  Remember:  am HYPOCHONDRIAC.
5.  Beef stroganoff:  Get to like. (Hypnosis?)

Sophie Kinsella is well known for her Shopaholic series and overall chick lit style.  Chick lit usually isn’t my thing because you miss the big payoff but the blurb for I’ve Got Your Number sounded pretty cute so I decided to give the book a try.

From the time I started I’ve Got Your Number to the time I finished the last page, I laughed.  I laughed long and hard.  This book was fun.  Plain and simple fun.   Poppy is a big train wreck that I could not take my eyes off.  I would turn the each page wondering what more could she possibly do to mess things up.

Poppy is getting married and she has lost her ring.  The family heirloom ring.  Then to make matters worse her phone is stolen.  So all of the people she gave her cell number to to call her about her missing ring now have nowhere to call her.  In a lucky break she finds a phone in the trash and calls finders keepers on it.  She quickly texts everyone her new number.  As it turns out the phone belonged to the PA of Sam Rolston and he wants it back.  Poppy agrees to forward all emails and texts to him so she can keep the phone until her ring is found.  Reluctantly, Sam agrees and the hilarity begins.

I’ve never shared an in-box with anyone in my life. I didn’t expect it to feel so…intimate. It’s as if we’re suddenly sharing an underwear drawer or something.

I am not sure how to describe Poppy.  She is a people pleaser with very little self confidence.  She is greatly offended by Sam’s abrupt social skills and takes it upon herself to improve them.  She doesn’t tell him what she is doing but simply responds to emails people send him.  She agrees to attend parties, take trips, meet old friends and sends out company wide emails in his name.  She just can’t help herself.  There were several parts of the book where I was just yelling “STOP”  at her but it was like a ball rolling downhill.  Once she would get started she couldn’t stop.

Sam is a pretty quiet character for most of the book.  We really only get to know him through texts messages he and Poppy exchange and emails he receives through the phone.  Slowly, Poppy and Sam develop a relationship but only through the context of the phone.

Throughout the whole thing Poppy is set to get married.  I won’t spoil the end of the book for you but it was absolutely perfect.  I adored how the last moments played out.  They were 100% sigh worthy.

For the most part I’ve Got Your Number is still a chick lit book.  The one kissing scene is not described in detail and lasts about a half a paragraph.  But that does not detract from this book.  The story and writing are fun and fast-paced so I didn’t even notice the lack of heat.  I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a good laugh and a feel good story.  Final grade B+/A-

Favorite quotes- really I could list the whole book here:

“There’s so much to do.  It’s insane.  Insane.  It would have helped if Clemency had typed out the order of service properly,” she adds, a little savagely.

Poor Clemency flushes beet-red and I shoot her a sympathetic smile.  It’s not her fault she’s severely dyslexic and put hymen instead of hymn and the whole thing had to be redone.

Or

I have no idea what to say next.  I don’t speak Japanese, I don’t know anything about Japanese business or Japanese culture.  Apart from sushi.  But I can’t exactly go up to him and say “Sushi!” out of the blue.  It would be like going up to a top American businessman and saying “T-bone steak!”.

Rating: A-/B+
I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
February 14, 2012 by Random House
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